New Louisiana Law Changes Where Kids Can Ride In The Car

If you have kids, there are a few upcoming changes to where they can ride in a car.

According to WDSU, a new law passed this session will change where your kids can ride in the vehicle.

Children younger than 2 have to stay in a rear-facing car seat unless they are over the seat's height and weight limits. Kids will have to be at least 13 to sit in the front seat.

The last part is specifically important to know because to my knowledge, there were no actual regulations on what age was "legal" for a child to ride in the front seat—at least not in Louisiana.

According to the SafeRide4Kids blog, 13 is only the recommended age and as of this post from August 2017. The only specific state laws listed were as follows.

California, Georgia, Hawaii, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Tennessee laws require children to be in the rear seat properly restrained until age 8.

Delaware law doesn’t allow children to sit in the front seat until they are 12 years old or 65″ tall.

Maine law doesn’t allow children to sit in the front seat until the child is age 12 or 100 pounds.

Washington law doesn’t allow children to sit in the front seat of the car until age 13.

Puerto Rico law requires children to remain in the back seat of the car until age 12.

It should be noted that the occupant restraint laws are only the "minimum standard" of what lawmakers think "their constituents will tolerate" so you should always follow recommendations from both the manufacturer of your vehicle as well as any seat or restraint device inside of it.

In addition to the aforementioned changes, there will also be new regulations for booster seats.

The new law is set to take effect on August 1.